Two serious security flaws in a technology widely used for network authentication could expose a swath of software products to hacker attack, experts have warned.

The flaws could allow an online intruder to crash or gain access to computers running Kerberos, a freely available authentication technology that was developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT rates both flaws "critical," according to two advisories released Tuesday. The university also made available patches to fix the problems and stated that exploitation of the bugs by attackers "is believed to be difficult."